Instrumentalists young and mature have responded to the Pagosa Springs Music Boosters call to form a new community band.

Under the able leadership of Larry Baisdon and Bill Gottschalk, musicians are ready and eager to contribute their talents to form Pagosa Springs’ community band.

“We are very, very excited about this new band,” says Dale Morris, production director of Music Boosters. “This band is a dream come true,” she said.

The new band consists of woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion and keyboard. Several musicians new to the area have also responded to the call.

“I am very pleased to welcome new community musicians to the mix,” says Bill Gottschalk, one of the band’s directors. “We are always looking for more talent, and we really appreciate these folks coming to join the group.”.

From the very first downbeat, it was apparent that Pagosa Springs has an unusually high number of talented musicians for such a small town. Some of the players were a bit rusty from not playing their instruments for quite a while, but it won’t take long before they get their “chops,” band lingo for strong muscle and endurance, back in shape. It is obvious that these musicians have had training and will be able to bring some very wonderful sounds to the arts in Pagosa Springs.

The band is still accepting new players through next Monday evening, when directors will audition its players for their first performance in Music Boosters holiday show “HollyDaze,” slated to play Dec. 9-10 at the new performing arts center.

“We expect to be ready to wow our audiences with some pretty impressive sounds,” says Gottschalk.

The band rehearses on Monday evenings from 6:30–8:30 p.m. at the high school band room.